Notes, talks and films on senior living, care, longevity, operations and anthropology.
Some entries first appeared on LinkedIn or YouTube. They are presented here in chronological order, using their original publication dates.
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Senior livingAnthropologyEssays
Learning for its own sake: completing my Harvard degree
🎓 "We refuse to let the current version of our lives be the final version."
That sentence from the Harvard Extension School Commencement speech has stayed with me.
A month ago, I attended my Harvard University graduation ceremony for a Master's in Anthropology & Archaeology, my third master's degree. I started it during the COVID lockdown… "for fun." Somehow, that also ended with a place on the Dean's List for Academic Achievement.
🗿The truth is, I never completely got over wanting to be Indiana Jones. Most people eventually outgrow that dream. Mine simply evolved into ethnographic fieldwork in the foothills of the Himalayas, dozens of academic papers, and considerably fewer ancient temples and cracks of the whip than I'd been promised.
And yes, despite the all-nighters, the flights spent reading and writing, and the privilege of living alongside isolated tribes in the mountains of China, it genuinely was fun!
I've always believed that learning doesn't need to be justified. Not every pursuit has to make you richer, faster, or more successful. In this case, learning for the sake of learning was reason enough. Curiosity is one of the few investments that always changes the person making it.
Ironically, this degree "for fun" ended up making me better at my job too. Anthropology didn't teach me how to operate senior living communities, but it deepened my understanding of the people we serve. Different discipline, same questions: how people adapt when their world changes, what traditions they preserve, which ones they reinvent, and how communities continue to thrive across generations. I never expected those synergies, but I'm grateful they found me.
Perhaps that's the real value of learning. You rarely end up exactly where you expected, but if you stay curious enough, you almost always end up somewhere worth being.
Thank you to Chanelle Ohayon-Crosby, Oriana, Jonas, my friends and colleagues for patiently putting up with countless "just one more paper" and "sorry, I can't, I have a deadline." I know I probably tested your patience at times. I hope I've made you proud!
Thank you to my professors, especially Prof. Joe Henrich and Dr. Richard Martin, who constantly challenged me intellectually.
Here's to refusing to let the current version of ourselves be the final one… and to chasing a few more childhood dreams along the way. 🎩
Credit for the commencement quote: Theo Rowley.
First published on LinkedIn, June 30, 2026. View the original post.
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Senior livingAnthropologyEssays
Why longevity is a long-term business
🤷🏼♂️𝗗𝗲𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝘁 Sindora Living 欣岳年 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀 Apple.
One of us is worth $3 trillion, the other manages senior living communities in Asia. I’ll let you guess which is which 😂.
Jokes aside, it’s gratifying to see Deutsche Bank recognize a model we believe strongly in: senior living built around long-term relationships, recurring services, and genuine care rather than one-off real estate transactions.
After all, longevity is, by definition, a long-term business. It cannot just be built quarter by quarter. It requires relationships measured in years.
The article makes it clear: the Silver Economy isn’t coming, it’s already here, and China is poised to become one of its leaders. Nice to see Sindora included in that conversation.
🔗 Deutsche Bank report on the Silver Economy: https://lnkd.in/gjrFbzKQ
First published on LinkedIn, June 19, 2026. View the original post.
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Senior livingAnthropologyEssays
Two years of Sindora Nanjing
(🎥sound on🎵)𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂! 🕶️
🎂Still young. Always elegant. 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗮 𝗡𝗮𝗻𝗷𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 2️⃣!
Two years of care, community, dignity, laughter, and residents proving that style has no expiry date.
That’s senior living on your own terms.
Happy anniversary to our residents, their families, and our dedicated teams!
First published on LinkedIn, May 28, 2026. View the original post.
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Senior livingAnthropologyEssays
What the 2026 Ageing Asia awards recognized
🏆 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿. Three weeks ago, at the 14th Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards, Sindora Living 欣岳年 walked away with two wins, one finalist spot, and one career-defining recognition for a colleague and friend I deeply respect. Overdue post, but worth writing.
🏆 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿, for our 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲. Years of R&D with Prof. Brian Kennedy, finally living inside a community: bio-age diagnostics, non-pharmacological interventions, opened beyond residents as a real revenue stream rather than a marketing line. At 90, Madam Ma climbs 68 steps without stopping. That is what "𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲" actually looks like.
🏆 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿, for our 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗷𝗼𝘆 𝗝𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻 community. An affordable community built with the Jinan municipal government, where we did not cut features or dilute the philosophy to hit the price point. Quality and accessibility are not mutually exclusive, and we are happy to keep proving it.
🥈 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁. We finished second, behind our long-term partners at 𝗣𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗻, who happen to be the people we operate our Foshan community for. 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱. Genuinely happy for them. Different DNA, shared ambition, same direction.
🏅 And then there is Thierry Costanzo 顾特睿 our COO, who received the 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 for a career spent bridging European and Asian senior living, and quietly pioneering modern eldercare in China. Thierry has been in this fight longer than most of us, and with less noise. About time!
💛 Thank you to Ageing Asia and the jury, to our teams in Nanjing, Jinan, and Foshan, to our partners, and to the residents and families who keep us loyal to our motto: 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀.
First published on LinkedIn, May 8, 2026. View the original post.
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Senior livingAnthropologyEssays
AI will automate tasks, not presence
🤖 AI just declared senior living safe from disruption. My reaction wasn't relief.
Anthropic, the company behind Claude, just published a landmark study mapping which jobs AI will automate next.
Computer programmers: 75% of tasks covered. Customer service reps: 70%. Data entry: 67%.
Caregivers, nurses aides, care home staff: 0%.
I've spent 13 years building senior care platforms across Asia. And when I saw that number, my first thought wasn't "great, we're protected." It was: if our people are irreplaceable, why is it still so hard to convince talented people that care is a career worth choosing? Because here's what low AI exposure actually means in our sector. It doesn't mean low pressure. And it doesn't automatically translate into recognition, status, or career desirability. Society has a long habit of undervaluing the work it cannot replace. That's the real problem we need to solve.
Now flip it the other way.
The back office of senior care, documentation, scheduling, compliance, staffing logistics, is highly exposed to AI. That's exactly where we should be deploying it. Not to cut headcount. To return time to the people whose work no algorithm will ever replicate.
And there's one more thing the study hints at, that nobody in our sector is talking about. Millions of educated, higher-paid white-collar workers may face real disruption in the next few years. Some will need to reinvent entirely. Care is one of the few fields that will remain structurally, irreducibly human.
That's not a consolation prize. That could be the most meaningful redeployment story of the next decade, if we make care a profession people actually want to enter.
AI will automate the task. It will never automate the presence.
So here's my question: is caregiving undervalued because it's hard to automate, or is it hard to automate because it's been undervalued? Link to the full study in the first comment. Honestly worth reading even if senior living is the last thing on your mind, especially then.
First published on LinkedIn, March 9, 2026. View the original post.
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Senior livingAnthropologyEssays
Can AI help cities age better?
🏙️ Can AI help cities age better?
On 6 March, I’ll be speaking at the Intelligence Outlook Forum 2026, organized by SPARK.
This year’s theme, “The AI Operating System for Future Cities & Flourishing Human Vitality”, feels particularly relevant.
If cities are becoming intelligent systems, senior living and healthcare are not peripheral layers. They are central.
The real question is not whether AI will be embedded in our cities. It is whether we design it to strengthen autonomy, dignity, and human agency.
Looking forward to the conversation.
First published on LinkedIn, February 27, 2026. View the original post.
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Senior livingAnthropologyEssays
Happy New Year of the Horse!
I'm not really into horoscopes, but I like what the horse represents: momentum, strength, and elegance. But also control.
At Sindora, in 2026, we are growing. We are opening and integrating new senior living communities.
But in our sector, growth without control is not ambition. It is risk. Expanding is not so difficult. Delivering the same standard everywhere is.
Consistency is indeed the real test of scale: A resident should experience the same level of care in every community we operate: 🕊 Free to choose. 🌞 Active during the day. 🌙 Safe at night. 🎉 Fun always
In 2025, we strengthened what makes that consistency possible: standardized operations across communities, stronger technology providing real-time support for caregivers, and a deeper commitment to longevity innovation, with mobility and autonomy preserved as long as possible.
Now we can accelerate.
🐎 Horsepower to move forward, 🎯 Discipline to move well: We choose both!
First published on LinkedIn, February 23, 2026. View the original post.
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Senior livingAnthropologyEssays
Happy New Year of the Horse!
🏮 May we carry its elegance and dignity in the way we care, and its horsepower in the way we build. 🧧
✨ At Sindora, we’ll keep channeling that same strength and grace, helping people age with energy, autonomy, and pride 🎊
First published on LinkedIn, February 17, 2026. View the original post.
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Senior livingAnthropologyEssays
Creating beautiful memories is at the heart of what we do at Sindora Living 欣岳年
🎥 We’ve filled 2025 with fun, and we are ready to make 2026 unforgettable together. 🥂 Happy New Year from whole Sindora team!
First published on LinkedIn, January 5, 2026. View the original post.